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Some miracles take longer Burn victim gets life back one day at a time BY ALEC JOHNSON REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Daniel R. Gentile, of Plymouth, and business partner Kristen Lowenthal are running Danny's Dawg House in Thomaston. Gentile, who was burned on 80 percent of his body in a 2011 accident, has found the business to be uplifting. Alec Johnson / Republican-American

THOMASTON -- Daniel R. Gentile doesn't have to work, but he sure loves his new job.

A victim of burns to 80 percent of his body nearly two years ago, Gentile, of Plymouth, has opened a hot dog stand on Waterbury Road with business partner Kristen Lowenthal.

Seven days a week, Gentile can be found holding court under a red umbrella at Danny's Dawg House, in the former Smiley's Hot Dogs, which closed last fall.

For Gentile, whose body was scorched after a gasoline spill ignited outside his Mount Tobe Road home on Sept. 29, 2011, getting to work every day gives him purpose after clinging to life during an eight-month stay in the burn unit at Bridgeport Hospital, including four and half months in an induced coma.

"It gives me a place to be alive," he said. "There is not much I can do."

Gentile was working on a snowmobile when the gasoline spilled on his clothing and went up in flames. Skin burned away on his legs, arms, hands and chest. Gentile said his son, Daniel Jr., and two friends, Dave Cody and Jeff Conard, jumped on him to fight the fire.

"They put me out," he said. "They threw me to the ground and jumped on me. They saved my life."

Gentile was flown from Waterbury Hospital to Bridgeport Hospital's burn unit and underwent about 100 surgeries over the following months as other burn victims who were in better shape succumbed to their injuries around him.

"It happened so fast," he said. "I remember being in the hospital and then that was it. Four and half months later it is like yesterday."

Gentile was asleep for the October blizzard that knocked out power for a week. In November he slept through his election to the Board of Education. Gentile stopped at Town Hall on the way home from the hospital in March 2012 and was sworn in to the school board seat he won when voters gave him their confidence despite knowing he may not live.

"I did pretty good for the amount of burns I had," Gentile said. "They called me the miracle, there were people who had less burns that didn't make it while I was in there."

GENTILE COULD BE SITTING at home watching daytime television and collecting disability payments. He is disabled and will carry painful scars for life. "I can't work," he said. "I can't use my hands."

But Gentile, 50, said he can't sit idle. After a 28-year career with Wesson Energy in Waterbury, his new venture came by way of Lowenthal, who wanted to open a restaurant.

"I knew that he wasn't able to go back to Wesson," Lowenthal said. "I thought we would do this together. It would show him that life isn't over."

Lowenthal, a friend of two decades, approached Gentile last year about a new venture where the two could be business partners and he could the silent partner. He is anything but silent.

Because his injuries don't allow him to cook, clean or use the cash register, he greets customers and chats with new friends he makes daily.

The restaurant, with white tables, red umbrellas, a black-and-white checkered floor and garage door, serves up hot dogs and hamburgers every day. A more expanded menu with soups is under development for the colder months.

Gentile, accustomed to hands-on work, learned how to be a mechanic, welder, mason, and general Mr. Fix-it while working at his first job with his father at Gentile's Campground in Plymouth. He sits and watches now, unable to help with the family business that was started in 1969. "It gets frustrating, I can't do enough," he said.

Gentile, pointing to a plastic table, said before his burns he could lift the table with one hand, now he couldn't lift it at all.

"His life is still changing every day," Lowenthal said. "He is still struggling with it. This was the best thing for him to be able to see people."

When he awoke after four and a half months in an induced coma, he was nearly paralyzed. He had been through dozens of skin grafts that replaced charred skin on his hands, arms and legs and hadn't spoken since the accident. "I couldn't touch my mouth with my hands," he said. "My arms, they were frozen."

Basic functions, like standing, were impossible at first. His muscles atrophied from lack of use. "It's amazing how much energy you use just to stand up," he said. "You stand for a minute and your muscles are shaking. It really is an eye-opening experience."

GENTILE HAD TO RELEARN walking, how to put on a shirt or tie his shoes. But with a determination he worked toward recovery through months of physical therapy. "It's amazing what the body can do," he said. "You adapt to what you are given."

Gentile said he has nothing but thanks for his family, friends and coworkers who came to his aid after the accident. His ex-wife let him move back into her home with his children for more than a year as he recovered.

"Anybody that gets injured, you get a whole new aspect on life," he said. "You have got to keep moving forward no matter what is thrown at you."

As for today, Gentile is taking the day off. A note on restaurant's door said it will reopen Tuesday.

Contact Alec Johnson at ajohnson@rep-am.com, on Facebook at RA Thomaston and RA Plymouth or on Twitter @ RA_Alec.

" @ Brian. Excuse me but I read the whole article, this man is disabled from his injuries and the article states he is on disability. If you are getting SSDI monthly benefits you can work but you cannot GROSS over $1040 a month or the SSA (not me) will deem you no longer disabled as you are making SGA (substantial gainful activity). I didn't mean to turn this happy ending story into a lesson on SSA and SSDI but you Sir were wrong for what you said to me. This man paid into the system with his many years of employment and deserves these benefits. "

" Then Aaa..God Bless you. We proudly said the exact same thing about five years ago, and then two companies were bought out and moved overseas. New job again, company closed. Then nobody would hire us due to our ages. Now we are piddling through our retirement savings with no health insurance and slipping down the slope to poverty. Two years to medicare and praying neither one of us gets sick. Plan ahead dear soul, because when it comes upon you, it's darn scary. "

" first of all, thank god you are still alive, dan. i'm glad you survived, and seem ready to prosper again.

now, as i read the story, i had a feeling that ssdi would come up. here's another take. after purchasing our business, my wife became increasingly ill until , eventually, she couldn't go to work anymore. the social security administration told us that, although she paid into the system for over fifteen years, she doesn't qualify for ssdi because she is self-employed. even though she has not taken a paycheck in over seven years.

so, dan, be very careful how you conduct your dealings with the ssa. "

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